Typing this on a tablet, so will be brief. Ran a local 4-mile race today in Greencastle, which is about 25 miles from where my parents live, and also near where I grew up in Indiana. The current Wabash College coach, Roger Busch had tipped me off about this race, and we both agreed to use it as a way to get together and meet up.
Drove out to Greencastle with my mom, registered, warmed up, and met Roger. Not too hot this morning but extremely humid, so humid you could see the air. The race was at the Depauw Nature Center, which had many great trails along a river, and above and through an old quarry. Really cool place, I'll have to come back here to do some runs next time I'm in town (way better than running in Brazil, IN). The whole race was on rolling trails of packed dirt and gravel, a really great running surface.
The race had about 100 runners, no chip timing, and the old-school "thumbtack-and-posterboard" results table. Very cool. I was just hoping for a fun run and a good workout.
And that's what I got. The race started and Roger, myself, and another local runner took off. Roger and I chatted for most the race, and the other guy dropped back a few seconds after about 3 miles. Near the end, I glanced at my garmin and realized the race was almost over and said we should pick it up a little, which we did for the last quarter mile or so.
I ended up winning by about a second, although I suspect Roger let me pull ahead. In any case, I ended up giving my $50 gift certificate for a shoe store in Broad Ripple to him and his girlfriend, since I will not be going to Broad Ripple any time soon. Final time was 23:06.
It was a fun race, a true local race, which is a dwindling or dying breed. And I also one a pound of organic coffee from a local store in the raffle, perfect! Good way to spend my Saturday morning, our last day here in Indiana. We fly back to Utah tomorrow, and I will be glad to be back, to mountains and low humidity. And will get back to real training. Hopefully this 29-mile week will not derail me too much. Not that it matters. | 